A VIOLENT Midland gang, whose botched lorry raid ended with the death of their leader, have been jailed for 19 years.

Spencer Howell, aged 36, of Bassett Road, Wednesbury, was jailed for ten years, while 20-year-old Danny White, Biddings Lane, Bilston, received five years, and 17-year-old Troy Skidmore, from Brierley Hill, was ordered to be detained for four years.

The trio were arrested in 2009 after they tried to steal from a lorry parked at Station Road Industrial Estate, in Coleshill, while its Greek driver was resting. Their leader Dean Skidmore, 36, of Brierley Hill – dad of Troy – suffered a fatal stab wound as the haulier, Vasilios Nikolapoulos, defended himself.

Reporting restrictions on identifying his 17-year-old son were lifted when the gang were sentenced at Coventry Crown Court on Wednesday.

Mr Nikolapoulos was initially arrested in connection with the career criminal’s death.

But the 42-year-old, was never charged with any offence and returned to the UK to give evidence at his attackers’ trial at Warwick Crown Court last month.

It took the jury less than four hours to find the three defendants guilty of conspiracy to rob and assault with intent to rob.

They threw out the gang’s claim that Mr Nikolapoulos got out of his cab and attacked them as they raided his lorry.

Speaking after sentencing, Superintendent Adrian McGee, of Warwickshire Police described the robbery, on February 26, 2009, as a pre-meditated attack on an isolated victim.

Supt McGee said: “This attack was part of a systematic series of crimes that was planned and committed by these offenders throughout the West Midlands region.”

The officer said the lorry driver was lured from his vehicle and had done what he “honestly and instinctively thought necessary” to defend himself because he thought he was going to be killed.

Supt McGee added: “This unfortunately led to the death of Dean Skidmore – one of his attackers. The sentences handed down reflect the level of violence used by this gang.”